


The Ghost of Asshole's Past

by akurtbastiantoholdonto



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-09
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2018-01-18 18:05:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 19,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1437652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akurtbastiantoholdonto/pseuds/akurtbastiantoholdonto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt transfers to Dalton to find that his dorm room is haunted by Sebastian, who isn't happy to have someone in his room.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kurt meets Sebastian

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Kurtbastian fanfic, and only the third I have ever written, so I hope you like it! :) The first chapter is pretty short, partly due to my inexperience with writing, and because when I first wrote i had only planned on it being a drabble for Kurtbastian Week 2014, but I ended up writing more.

Kurt pulled out his map, looking at the room number written in pencil on the side. “Room 236” It said, the bubbly secretary having written it there a few minutes previously. Since the bullying had gotten worse at McKinley, his family had looked into the local private school, Dalton Academy. Luckily a boy had transferred a few weeks prior, and they had a room open, and were glad to welcome Kurt in. He had just got out of the headmasters office, and was headed to find his room, wherever it might be in this giant reformed mansion.  
He headed up some stairs, and passed by a long row of doors, but each was listed with 100 numbers, so he turned back to the staircase, and climbed to the next level. He found the first door easily enough, but the dorms here were spaced out further, each was slightly bigger for the older students, Kurt was lucky to not have one of the freshman dorms. His was a single, and if the way the numbers were going, his was quite a ways down the hall. He walked further down, until finally coming to the end of the hall, room 236 staring back at him. ‘This is it,’ he thought to himself, pulling out the key the secretary had given him and unlocking the single room.  
Inside was relatively bare. A small table was next to the door, a bed was across the room and a desk sat under a window, and to his side were 2 doors leading to what he assumed was a closet and a bathroom. He noticed that he was quite a ways away from the other rooms, and as he walked in and set his suitcase on his bed he said to himself “Well, I guess no one will be opposed to me singing whenever I want.”  
“Actually, I do like it to be quiet most of the time, plus I am far too young to have to worry about going deaf listening to that voice all the time.”  
Kurt spun around, looking in the shadows of the empty room.  
“I haven’t actually practiced materializing recently, forgot about that.” A voice said, followed by a body slowly materialized next to the desk. “Though in fact I imagine you are not interesting enough for me to need to get in the habit. “  
“Excuse me?” Kurt snapped, he wasn’t sure what the boy was exactly, but he wasn’t shocked to the point of not realizing he was being insulted.  
“Oh, you haven’t fainted yet, I thought with your voice Dalton might have become coed. I guess I was wrong.” The boy smirked at him, obviously enjoying himself far too much.  
“What are you? The Ghost of Assholes Past?”  
Sebastian sneered. “You’re feisty. Shame it’s wasted on you. Could you dress any gayer? Some of us do like to break stereotypes every so often.” He said, glancing over Kurt’s outfit. “And yes, to answer the question, I am a ghost. Died right in this room. I believe this is the part where you go screaming to the headmaster asking for a room reassignment and leave me the fuck alone.”  
“Not going to happen, I have my fair share of figurative ghosts, a real one, no matter how much they resemble a meerkat, is going to scare me away.”  
“A challenge! I like it. You know, the last boy, he lasted 3 months before I finally scared him away. Do you think you can beat him?” He looked smugly at Kurt.  
“Hi, I am Kurt Hummel, future Broadway star, and currently, your long term roommate.” He held out a hand, smiling insolently at the ghost.  
“Sebastian… you really aren’t spooked? Usually the whole, I scared away the kid before routine works. Are you sure all that hairspray hasn’t given you brain damage?” the ghost, Sebastian, Kurt corrected in his head, said.  
“Oh believe me, I have dealt with far worse than you.” Kurt pointedly began unpacking, and a glance over his shoulder showed that Sebastian had dematerialized, but Kurt could swear he hear a “huh” come from Sebastian a few seconds later.


	2. Kurt Meets the Warblers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt goes about his first day of classes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There isn't much interaction between Kurt and Sebastian in this chapter, this chapter is more about Kurt getting used to Dalton and meeting the Warblers. ( also I figured out how to add more paragraph breaks and italics, so hopefully this will be easier on the eyes.)

Kurt finished unpacking about an hour later, clothes adorned hangers in the closet, his hair and skin products in the bathroom, and some family pictures and books were now arranged on his desk.  He put his sheets on the bed and looked at the clock. It was already 5pm, dinner, a schedule sheet informed him, was at 6. He decided it was time to try out the uniform that was in his closet when he got there. He pulled it out then glanced over to the desk. ‘ _Do you think Sebastian can still see me?’_  He thought, he decided he was better safe than sorry so he moved to the bathroom and closed the door.

“Oh come on.” He heard an exasperated sigh come from behind him, and turned around. “firstly, I am a ghost, it’s pretty common knowledge I can float through walls. Second, trust me Porcelain, I have much better things to do than watch you undress.” Sebastian was nowhere to be seen. “I told you earlier I wasn’t going to waste strength materializing for dull people.”

“You keep saying how dull I am, but you sure spend a lot of time talking to me.” Kurt said.

“I am still trying to decide whether you are wearing boy clothes.” Sebastian replied

“Haha very funny. Now go away, I have to change for dinner.” Kurt started unbuttoning his shirt, and from the lack of response from Sebastian decided he must have disappeared. He changed into his uniform, which fit surprisingly well. After checking his hair he realized he still had 30 minutes before dinner, so he decided to head down there and try to meet some of the other students.

He reached the cafeteria, full of medium sized round wood tables and chairs, large murals painted across the walls between the wood supports. There were several small groups of students, most were still in their dorms.

“Excuse me, I am new here,” he said, tapping the sleeve of a nearby student. “My name is Kurt.”

“Pleasure! I am Wes Montgomery, I am on the council for the Warblers, our show choir. Can you sing?”

“Countertenor, previously of the New Directions.” Kurt replied.

“Fantastic, we haven’t had one of those in decades! Come on, I’ll introduce you to the Warblers, maybe they can convince you to audition.” Wes said excitedly, grabbing Kurt’s arm and dragging him to a group of students who had just walked in and sat down.

Reaching them, Wes stopped. “Warblers, this is Kurt, he is new and I am trying to convince him to join us!” The boys surrounding the table made room for Wes and Kurt, and soon Wes was introducing them all. “Ok, that is David, my brother in arms, that is Thad, if you hear him saying weird words it’s because he thinks that showing off that he reads classic literature will get him a girlfriend. The two attached to each other are Jeff and Nick, if you see one without the other, look for cover because aliens are probably going to attack soon also.” He listed off the others, but the first few were the ones that stuck in Kurt’s head, possibly due to the ridiculous commentary. Though he noticed that Wes wasn’t joking about Jeff and Nick, who were making out in front of everyone, not caring about the spectacle they made of themselves. ‘ _hmm, I guess this place really is a lot different from McKinley.’_

The boys asked him several questions about where he was from and what he liked before turning ravenous to their plates, conversation forgotten. Halfway through Wes turned towards Kurt, who kept eyeing Nick and Jeff. “Oh, don’t mind them. They are always like this. We tried to get them to stop once and then it just started up again worse, so we just normally leave them too it, that’s not going to be a problem is it?” Wes asked, his voice sounding slightly protective of the other Warblers.

“Oh, no, definitely not, I just, it’s strange to be in a place where I am accepted and not ridiculed.” Kurt said. Wes nodded.

“Nobody will hurt you at Dalton, Kurt. Plus, if you join the Warblers you will be popular!” Wes winked at him.

“Okay, you can stop now. I will audition.” Kurt laughed. Wes looked extremely pleased.

“Good! How about Monday next week?  That gives you some time to prepare, I know it is short notice but we like to get an early start on the next competition.”

“I will be there.” Kurt chuckled at the obvious delight Wes felt at getting him to audition.

They finished their meals, and after saying goodbye to the cheery group he headed back to his dorm. Tired, he curled up in bed and read for a short while before deciding to sleep, hoping to get an early start tomorrow, as he still had to find all his classes.

An alarm blared nearby, waking him from a dream. He opened his eyes to see the clock read 7:45AM. “Dammit,” He exclaimed. He explicitly remembered setting the alarm for an hour earlier. He started to get up, hoping he could make it to his class at 8.  He groggily looked up to see Sebastian smirking at him from the desk.

“I figured some adrenaline might help you start your day, and I don’t like loud noises before 8, but I felt like being generous.” He said, smiling in a sickeningly innocent way.

“Oh fuck you.” Kurt said, too sleepy for his words to hold much bite. For once he was glad for the uniform, and was dressed in only a few minutes. He grabbed his books and ran out the door, sparing a glare back and Sebastian. “Enjoy your alone time ghost boy.” He said before locking the door.

He found his class barely in time, rushing in at the bell.

“Hello, you must be Mr. Hummel, class, this is our new student, Kurt Hummel.  If you would please take a seat, there is one available next to Jeff.” The teacher said. “Jeff, if you wouldn’t mind helping Kurt get caught up later?”

“Of course Mrs. Cooper.” Jeff said, smiling at Kurt as he took his seat.

As Mrs. Cooper started her lesson, he looked around, a few of the Warblers were in the class, but he couldn’t remember their names. Jeff bumped his shoulder, bringing his attention to a note he was sliding him. Unfolding the paper, he read it discreetly, not wanting to get in trouble the first day. ‘ _Do you want to meet at lunch so I can bring you up to speed?’_  Grabbing his pen from his binder he wrote back in the affirmative, then turned to the lesson. History wasn’t his strongest subject, but at least it wouldn’t be hard to get caught up on.

He made it through his next few classes, relieved when lunch finally rolled around. He walked to the cafeteria, and luckily didn’t have to search for Jeff as he came up to him during his trek through the halls. “Where’s Nick? Yesterday I got the impression you guys were glued at the lips whenever possible.”

“Ha, yeah, pretty much, but he had some homework to do and I told him I needed to be able to concentrate on helping you, which would be pretty hard to do with him around. He would just start nibbling on my ear.” Jeff laughed.

“I do want to thank you for helping me out, I have a feeling that Dalton is going to be a lot harder than McKinley.” Kurt said.

“Most likely, but once you get used to it, it isn’t bad.”

They sat down at a small table in the corner with their food, and began eating, but partway into the meal Jeff stopped him. “Hey man, I know this is going to sound weird, but would you mind if I hung out in your room a few times a week?” Jeff asked, looking nervous.

“Um, I don’t see why not. What is so special about my room?” He asked, wondering if Jeff maybe knew something about Sebastian.

“Did you hear what happened here 2 years ago?” Jeff asked.

“No, I don’t really watch the news…” Kurt replied, hoping something came of this weird conversation.

“Ok, hopefully this won’t scare you, but your room is number 236 right?” he paused and Kurt nodded in confirmation. “Well, 2 years ago that room was a double shared by two of the Warblers, and one of them killed the other, then later disappeared.”

“What?” Kurt said, shocked. “That is horrible.”

“Did they ever figure out what happened? Also, what does this have to do with wanting to visit me there?”

“Um, well, the one that disappeared was my brother, Matthias, and his roommate/boyfriend was Sebastian Smythe. While I never got along with my brother, I did really like ‘Bastian, and sometimes I feel like I still can feel him there. That isn’t weird is it?”

“I, I don’t think so.” Kurt said. ‘ _So he hasn’t shown himself to Jeff…’_ he thought. ‘ _Interesting’_ “You can come by after school finishes tomorrow if you want. I am sure I will need help on homework anyway, if you don’t mind.”

“No, that would be awesome!” Jeff said, looking happy that he hadn’t scared away his new friend.

They finished up their meals in relative silence with just a bit of small talk between bites of food.  The bell rang and they parted ways, Jeff promising to see him tomorrow.

 

He ended up having P.E. last period, which wasn’t too bad since Wes was in it, but soon enough a game of soccer had started and he didn’t get a chance to talk to him.

He had went straight to dinner and left after, to the woes of the Warblers, stopping at the condiments table and putting something in his pocket. He dragged himself up the two flights of stairs and down the long hallway to his room. He unlocked the door to his room and walked over to the desk, pulling out his folder of sheet music and flipped through the pages looking for a few song choices to go over with Jeff tomorrow.  He then got ready for bed, and pulled the packets out of his pocket, sprinkling the salt in a circle around his alarm clock.  “Hopefully that will do the trick!” he said, laying down to sleep.

The next morning he woke to a clock ringing at 6:45, and a very pissy Sebastian glaring at him.


	3. Sebastian messes up, Niff is cute

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I am really excited to post this, Niff is one of my favorite couples and I wanted to write them being cuties.

Kurt crawled out of bed, shutting off the blaring alarm. “I explicitly remember telling you I didn’t like loud noises early in the morning.” Sebastian sniped at him.

“Well excuse me!” Kurt retorted, looking him straight in the eye. “Who died and made you drama queen? I have to get to class, so get used to it ghosty.”

“I can make your life very miserable. One of these days you’ll bring your boyfriend over for a fuck and all of a sudden I’ll show up. Good luck getting him to see you again.” Sebastian said.

“Believe me, that won’t be a problem.” Kurt replied, changing into his uniform.

“Oh, you prefer to stay at his?” Sebastian prodded.

“Nope, there is no one interested in me. Never has been but for the closeted jock that made me transfer here.”

“Well, no other man could probably stand your gay face or your girl voice.” Sebastian said.

“If you are done telling me what everyone else tells me, I have to go to class, goodbye, Sebastard.” Kurt left with is books, and headed towards the breakfast hall, trying not to let Sebastian’s words get to him. He could remember the whispers behind his back at McKinley, and ghost boy wasn’t helping him feel better about Dalton. He figured he could always try to get a different room, but he wanted to try to face Sebastian. ‘ _besides,’_ He  thought _‘ At least I know the salt thing works to keep him out of my way.’_ He thanked himself for watching a few episodes of that ghost hunter show Finn liked.

The day drug on slowly. Luckily several of the Warblers were interested in befriending him, so class wasn’t a lonely affair, but Sebastian’s words still stung. He was used to hearing them, but they rarely invaded his home.  Once he left school they were nonexistent, but in this case, it was coming from his now home, his room.

‘ _At least if I join the Warblers I will have to spend less time in my dorm.’_  He thought. He Spent the lunch hour in the library, going over what songs he should sing for the audition.  He hadn’t needed to try very hard to get into the New Directions, but Jeff had told him that there were a lot of people that had wanted to get in this year, and only a few had made it.  He decided to go with one of his favorites, ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’.  He knew it by heart, but decided to go over it a few times to refresh his memory once he got back to his room.

“Hey Kurt!” Jeff and Nick sat in a chair across from him. Or, more accurately, Nick sat in the chair, Jeff sat on his lap. Kurt smiled at the two.

“How is it going?” He asked them, glad to have his mind taken off the stress that Sebastian was causing.

“It is going fantastically!” Jeff replied enthusiastically. “Look at this!” He said, the librarian turned to glare at him before returning to shelving books. Jeff ignored her and unbuttoned his sleeve, rolling it up to show a think leather cuff around his wrist. Kurt moved closer to see the engraving.

“Nick got it for me, it’s our one year anniversary tomorrow. The inscription read ‘One Year With the Man of My Dreams, And Many More to Come.’  Jeff was bouncing up and down in excitement as Kurt read it.

“That is very sweet, I am happy for you guys!” He said. Nick smiled. He was much quieter than Jeff, Kurt didn’t know him as well, but he hoped he would during his time at Dalton, the Warblers were turning out to be very supportive.

Jeff turned to Kurt from his place nuzzled in Nick’s neck. “Are we still on for this evening?”

“Yeah,” Kurt replied. “Do you mind helping me with my audition piece?”

“Sure! I can’t wait to hear your voice.” Jeff exclaimed. “Wes hasn’t even heard it but he goes on and on about how great it would be to have a countertenor. I think he has already started picking songs that feature you for sectiona-“ Nick smacked his arm.

“You weren’t supposed to mention that!” He said.

“Oops.” Jeff said, not looking discouraged at all. Nick eyed him for a few seconds, but was stopped short by the bell alerting them it was time to head back to class. “I will see you after 7th in your dorm ok?” Jeff said, before leaving with Nick. Kurt gathered up his textbooks and headed to class, hoping that with Jeff tagging along later Sebastian wouldn’t show his face.

He got through the rest of the day, hoping he was right about Sebastian not wanting to appear in front of Jeff. After 7th period he went up to his dorm, put his books on the desk and opening a cupboard underneath it to pull out his music folder, taking out the sheet music. He set his laptop up with the instrumental music ready to play when Jeff got there.

He heard a cough behind him. He turned. Sebastian was sitting on the edge of his bed, looking very uncomfortable. “I, um-“

A knock sounded on the door, “Hey Kurt! It’s Jeff.” Jeff shouted from outside. Kurt didn’t let his eyes leave Sebastian, who looked up in panic at the door.  He seemed to cower into himself once recognition passed over his face at the voice.  Jeff knocked a second time, and Sebastian disappeared.

“Come in!” Kurt called, confused at what had just happened.  Jeff bounded in, sitting on the bed right where Sebastian had been.

“So! Have you decided on a song yet?” Jeff asked.

“Well, I was thinking about ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’. I know it very well.” Kurt said, handing Jeff the sheet music.

“Wow! I haven’t actually heard this before, but the notes will definitely show off your voice. Do you want to practice it now?” He asked.

“That would actually be pretty helpful. I don’t know what songs the Warblers usually sing so it would be helpful if you could tell me if it is the right choice.” Kurt tapped a button on his computer to start the music playing. He ran through the song, and when he finished he looked at Jeff to see him miming picking his jaw up off the floor.

 

“That was freaking fantastic! If you don’t get in I will personally knock some sense into Wes with his own gavel.” Jeff praised. “I think you have it in the bag.”  Jeff smiled at Kurt, then paused taking his phone out, reading a text. “Oh, shit, I have to go Kurt, I’m sorry. I really wanted to stay longer but Nick is having some family problems so I have to go. I will see you tomorrow at breakfast? We can go over class stuff then?”

 

“Sure.” Kurt said.  “Tell Nick I hope everything works out.” Kurt walked Jeff the short distance to the door, closing it when he left. He turned back to the room. Sebastian appeared again, sitting on the bed.

 

“Look, I’m sorry, about the whole gay-face comment.” He said, staring at his translucent hands. “I really didn’t mean it.”

 

Kurt gave him a look.

 

“Ok, fine, at the time I meant it, but I was walking around the school and I overheard some kids talking, and they said you transferred because some homophobe gave you a death threat, and I just, I am sorry.”

 

“Why are you being nice all of a sudden? Last night, hell, this morning you were threatening to scare me away from here.” Kurt asked, confused.

 

“Well, you know how I am all, ghosty? I used to be a real boy, but then my roommate-slash-boyfriend decided to make a stupid deal and kill me. Didn’t do the idiot much good, he died anyway, but here I am. At least I can leave the room for a little while but I am always drawn back to the scene of the crime.” Sebastian said, rolling his eyes and the cliché of it all.  “I heard you were trying out for the Warblers. Wes will be glad to finally have a countertenor. When I was lead singer he was practically leading us in prayer circles, hoping one would come along.” Sebastian said, fondly.

 

Kurt stared at Sebastian. What was with the about-face? All of a sudden Sebastian being nice? It had to be about more than just the death threat he heard about. ‘I guess I will have to question him about it.’ Kurt thought. “Wait, you were a Warbler? When?”

 

“About 2 years ago, I was a sophomore, me and Matthias joined freshman year, that’s how we met. It’s a nice group of people, you will like it I think. They aren’t all assholes like me.” Sebastian sighed. “Well, as fun as it is talking about all my happy memories,” He rolled his eyes “the supernatural mojo it is taking to maintain this conversation is wearing me out. So with that, I bid you goodnight. Try not to sing to much though, okay? I may be trying to be nice to you, but your voice is still too high for me to handle on an everyday basis.” Sebastian faded out of sight, leaving Kurt alone to wonder what the hell just happened.


	4. Kurt Joins the Warblers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt auditions for the Warblers, Sebastian is immature, Kurt learns more about Sebastian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to ithurtsbecauseitmattered on tumblr, who beta'd chapter 2, she is awesome you should check her out.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

The alarm clock blared from the nightstand, waking Kurt from his sleep, face smashed into a pillow. He smacked the top of the alarm, shutting it off. Looking up he saw Sebastian sitting again at the desk, furiously marking out something out. “What are you doing?” Kurt yawned, stretching his arms out above his head.  He had realized he couldn’t get any privacy from Sebastian, so walking around half naked stopped making him uncomfortable.

“I said no sounds before 8.” Sebastian repeated, like he was talking to an insubordinate child.

“Yes, and I have class.” Kurt said, stretching his back when he got out of bed.

“I thought having that little heart to heart would stop the alarm. I guess you aren’t as much of a sap as I thought.”

Kurt walked over to the desk looking over Sebastian’s shoulder. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” Kurt yelled.  Sebastian had used a sharpie, how he held it Kurt didn’t know, and blocked out all the math homework questions in his text book.  “Are you a child?”

“Perpetually 17, thanks for asking.” Sebastian turned and smiled at him, his face uncomfortably close.

“Was anything you said last night true?” Kurt asked, looking at him suspiciously, refusing to be the one to back away from the close proximity. 

“Of course it was. I wasn’t going to waste brain power creating fake story, besides, mine is weird enough. I can’t imagine any of your friend have ever made a deal with a demon resulting in someone’s death.”

“I definitely can’t say that I have, though they do make me wonder some times.” Kurt said, thinking about all the crazy shenanigans that New Directions had got in to. “I guess we have one thing in common, we both have had our lives threatened.”

Sebastian looked down at his lap, and got out of the chair. “yeah, I guess so.” He said, walking through Kurt and through the wall out of the room.

“I guess he is still intent on trying to scare me away from here.” Kurt said to the empty room, heading to the bathroom, intend on showering off the unsettling feeling that went through him when Sebastian walked through him.

***

Lunch was similar to the day before. While during dinner the Warblers sat together, coming back from Warbler practice, lunch was different. While they tended to gravitate towards each other, they spread out, spending time with their other friends who weren’t in the glee club.  Kurt spent it with Jeff, Nick, Wes and David.

“So has Niff scared you off with their excessive PDA yet?” Wes asked, grinning at Kurt.

“Niff?” Kurt asked, confused.

“Jeff and Nick, Niff. We started calling them that a while ago when we realized it would save time talking to them since they rarely separate.” Wes supplied. “it was that or Jeck, which just didn’t really fit them.”

“Okay..” Kurt replied.  “And no, they haven’t. My old glee club had couples who were pretty much the same.”

“Warblers tend to always have one couple like that. Matthias and Seb were like that when they were with us.” Wes said.

‘ _Sebastian? PDA?’_  Kurt’s mind raced. Maybe he could keep this thread of conversation going and learn something about his unwanted roommate.

“Yeah,” Jeff said. “At least you didn’t have to live with Matthias, Wes, they would come over and it was way worse than what Nick and I do at Warbler practice.”

“Well, I am sorry for you! I can’t imagine watching your bro get his mack on with your best friend.” David said.

“Well, there wasn’t much I could do about it.” Jeff said, getting off Nick’s lap to return to his seat to eat. “Oh Kurt! You totally would have gotten along great with ‘Bastian, he has a great wit. I wish you could have met him.”

“He sounds cool.” Kurt said, hoping that Jeff wouldn’t notice his lack of enthusiasm.

“I miss him.” Jeff said. Nick took his hand, squeezing it.

“We all do, what I would give to have him back.” Wes said. “But I know you were closest to him.” He wrapped his arm around Jeff’s shoulders, giving him a hug.

‘ _Are they talking about the same Sebastian I know?’_  Kurt wondered. _‘To be fair, death probably changes a person.’_

***

After classes Jeff and Kurt headed up to his dorm.

“Do you want to go over your song a few more times?” Jeff asked after they had been silently studying for an hour.

“Sure!” Kurt said. He had ran over it in the shower a few times, and felt pretty confident about it. He handed the sheet music to Jeff to look over as he sang.

“I think you will do wonderfully.” Jeff complimented. “The audition is only a few days away. Are you nervous?”

“I don’t think so, or at least, it’s not too bad. I never got much of a chance to sing in New Directions, so I am more excited than anything else.” Kurt said.

“Wait, let me get this straight. You, with that voice, rarely got a chance to sing? I find that hard to believe.” Jeff said, looking shocked.

“Oh believe it mister!” Kurt said, pulling up the New Directions YouTube page, and proceeded to show Jeff several of their performances.

“Well no wonder you placed 12th at nationals. You would have won if they featured you.” Jeff said.

“I am pretty sure we lost because of the kiss that missed, but I’m glad you think so.” Kurt laughed. A knock sounded on the door.

“Come in!” Kurt called.  Nick peeked his head around the door. Hey baby, I finished studying, do you want to go now?”

“Totally!” Jeff said, jumping off the bed getting his books together. “Sorry to leave so early, Nick and I have an anniversary dinner planned.”

“Have fun Niff!” Kurt called out as they walked down the hall. Closing the door he turned to the room. “Sebastian, are you there?” No sound came from the room.

***

There was complete radio silence from Sebastian for the next few days. The weekend came and Kurt spent it at home, convincing his dad that he was safe, and telling Carole that he was going to be okay, and had already made friends.

Heading back to the school Sunday evening was strange. He hadn’t experienced Dalton during a weekend, having headed home Friday evening, and the school was definitely different. For one, no one was wearing a uniform. Kurt had to hold back from gagging at some of the outfits before making it safely back to his room.  He put together his supplies he needed for tomorrow, and laid down. A piece of paper laid next to the alarm clock. “ _Good luck on your audition.”_  It read.

***

Kurt approached the doors to the famed Warbler Practice room. 

A murmuring could be heard inside, and foot-steps moved towards the door. Jeff opened it, flashing him a smile before letting him in. “Welcome, Mr. Hummel. If you are ready we would like you to sing your audition piece now.”

“Of course, Kurt said. He handed Thad the CD, and introduced himself and Thad set it up. “Hello Warblers, as you know, I am Kurt Hummel, and I will be singing ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’, from Evita.”  The music started to play from the CD player, and Kurt sang, giving the performance all he had.

***

Kurt sat in the common room, waiting for Jeff to come and tell him once the meeting was over whether he made it in.  He tried to work on his homework but it was hard to focus.  He really wanted into the Warblers.

Jeff walked in, trailed by Nick. “Hey Kurt!” They said in unison. They sat down next to each other across from Kurt.

“Kurt, you would not believe how wonderful our date was!” Nick said.  Nick had started talking more around Kurt and he had noticed that Nick could be just as hyper as Jeff if you gave him a chance. “We went to this new Thai place, and they had the most amazing curry, you wouldn’t believe it.” Nick continued, smirking at the frustrated glare his was getting.  “Oh, and the dessert was amazing, honestly you should go there with us sometimes, I think you would really lik-“ Jeff put a hand over his mouth.

“Stop torturing the poor boy, babe.” Jeff said, “Don’t worry Kurt, you got in.”

Kurt clapped his hands together, smiling. “Yes! Though, are the meetings always that serious?”

“Yes sir.”  Jeff said.

“Wes likes order, and since he has been on the council the longest he gets to control most of how the meeting is run. That is why he has the gavel.” Nick supplied.

“I was wondering what that was for.”

“It was a gag gift from Seb when Wes first got on the council, as a way to remember him he kept it, or at least that’s what he says,” Jeff leaned in closer, stage whispering, “Between you and me I think he likes the power trip.”

“No doubt.”  Kurt said. “I guess it makes sense why you are so good, it’s a miracle we beat you last year.”  
“Wes had us working on our first routine halfway through the summer for the local guys. It was torture.” Nick said. 

“But baby, you looked so hot on skype.” Jeff said. Kurt had learned that Jeff’s family lived in California, and so every summer he went back there. Jeff and Nick started kissing, something that happened often enough that Kurt got used to it.

“Ok, Well while you guys go do coupley things, I’m going to head up to my room to study. I have some math to do. Oh, Jeff, can I borrow your math book, my book is ah, missing the page of problems.” He said, thinking back to Sebastian’s “Revenge”.

“That’s weird, but sure, here it is.” Jeff pulled it out of his backpack.

“Thanks, I will see you at dinner!” Kurt headed back to his dorm. He only had an hour before dinner, but he wanted to get some of his homework done. Also he was wondering if Sebastian would finally show his face.

After studying for while he had an idea. Walking over to his night stand he set the alarm to go off in a minute. He then sat, waiting for it to go off, hoping Ghost boy would show his face.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

“What the fuck!?” a voice called out, Sebastian appeared, sitting on the floor in the room, reading one of Kurt’s books. “I was trying to read! It isn’t even morning what are you doing?”

Kurt shut off the alarm. “More like what are you doing. Why haven’t you shown your face?”

“Did you ever think I might have better things to do?” Sebastian glared, pointedly shaking the book.

“Please, you are dead, you have plenty of time to read.” Kurt said, rolling his eyes. “Why are you even reading one of my books?” He said, wondering why Sebastian would have an interest in a biography about Patti LuPone.  

“Well I can’t seem to take anything into or out of this room except myself, and so I figured I might as well see if you had anything interesting.” Sebastian said. “So far you don’t but given my limited selection I’m not giving up easily.”

“Jeff seemed to think you were nice.  Or at least that is what he said.” Kurt said, hoping that he could shock Sebastian into revealing something.

“Yeah, well, I was nice. Then someone I loved decided to pop a bullet into my head. I would like to see you stay nice after something like that happens.” Sebastian snarled.

“Touché.” Kurt said. “He said you used to be best friends.” He pressed.

“Fine.  I have nothing better to do. Yes, we were best friends.”

“Why don’t you show yourself to him? He really misses you.”

“Well, I am sure he has had no problem making new friends. It has been 2 years after all. He is a likeable guy. He has Nick right?” Sebastian said, staring at his hands. “Besides, I can’t show myself to someone who doesn’t dorm in this room, which puts a damper on keeping in contact with him. I couldn’t exactly start leaving him notes could I?”

“I guess not.” Kurt said. “Would you talk to him now if you could?”

“I don’t know. He seems pretty preoccupied with his boyfriend.”

“Well from what I hear you were pretty preoccupied with your boyfriend but still managed to be his best friend.”

“Touché.” Sebastian said, nodding his head.  He started fading out, leaving Kurt to himself to wonder what to do.

***

The next morning he woke to no Sebastian but a note was left on his desk. “ _Can you pick up some Steven Brust books from the library? Or if they don’t have any Jeff has them. It takes too much energy to go to the library, and your Broadway Diva biography collection gets boring after a while. (the first page) ~Seb”_

“Sure thing Ghost Boy.” Kurt said to the empty room, hoping Sebastian was there to hear him. 


	5. Kurt Enjoys Reading Seb's Diary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt sings a song that Seb jokes is insensitive, and then Kurt reads about Sebastian at Dalton, and how he died. (No graphic violence)

The next few days were full of homework and Warbler practice. Nick hadn’t been joking when he said that Wes worked them hard.  The Warblers were working on a new competition piece, and while Kurt enjoyed the more organized set up, he was taking a while to get used to Wes blowing a whistle whenever someone miss-stepped.  As much as it scared him whenever it happened, it did seem to help in some odd way, and at least he wasn’t the one causing the problems. Something he was immensely grateful for. And if Jeff and Nick used these moments of Wes correcting an offender to snuggle together no one would be the wiser.

Kurt had just gotten back from visiting with Jeff, working through some last minute addition to their Warbler Choreography.  He walked through the door, hanging up his blazer and toeing off his shoes next to the door.  He sat down on the bed removing his tie, and laid back, wishing for his toes to stop aching.  He starting singing bits of a song that had been stuck in his head all day.

_Somebody, hold me too close,_

_Somebody, hurt me too deep,_

_Somebody, sit in my chair_

_And ruin my sleep_

_And make me aware_

_Of being alive,_

_Being alive._

“Ahem.” A voice sounded from a few feet away.

Kurt rolled over, looking to the source. “What is it, ghost boy?”

“Don’t you think it is a bit insensitive to sing that song here?” He said, “Also I am trying to read those books you got me, so if you could allow me some quiet I am sure that all the residents of this hallway will be grateful.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “Where have you been the past few days, by the way?”

“Nowhere that concerns you.” He snapped back.

Kurt gave him a pointed look.

“Fine. I read a lot. I really missed these books, the other boys that stayed here were too much fun to scare, so I didn’t get much of a chance too. Plus, the last boy that stayed here only read historical romance. I would rather die again than get stuck with a collection of those as my main reading material.” He said, exaggerating a shudder.

Kurt laughed, “I guess I can understand that.” He swung his legs over the side of the side of the bed, and stretching his back. “Though mine has hardly anything that isn’t vogue or biographies.”

“True, but you are easy to convince to do things for me.” He said, winking.

“Hah, maybe I just did it so you would shut up for a while.” Kurt replied.

Sebastian nodded his head, “That is quite possible, but something tells me from those conversations I over hear on the phone between you and ‘Cedes’ that liking when people are quiet isn’t the case.  You do realize it is possible to discuss Ebay auctions for Elizabeth Taylor jewelry in a pitch that doesn’t mimic a dog whistle, right?”

“Whatever.” Kurt said, getting up to sit at his desk covered in homework. “Do you want to make yourself useful?” He motioned to the papers.

“I guess it is the least I could do.” Sebastian agreed.

 

For the next few weeks they followed a routine. Kurt would come back from Warbler practice, complaining loudly about various sore body parts and flopping on the bed, at which point Sebastian would materialize and they would work on Kurt’s homework together.  It was relatively relaxed between them, and Kurt was starting to think that he might actually want to be friends with his strange roommate.

 

One day Kurt came back from rehearsal and flopped on the bed dramatically.  He realized that while it was extremely over dramatic, it tended to break the ice between them.  Except this time Sebastian didn’t appear. “Sebastian?” Kurt spoke to the empty room.  Nothing stirred. Kurt sat up, looking around.  Sebastian’s books were still on the shelf, none were missing, but from this angle he could see a book hiding against the wall behind his desk.  He crawled under the desk to retrieve the dark brown leather skin journal and turned to the first page. “ _Sebastian Smythe. If found please return to owner or Jeff Sterling.”_    Kurt realized that he probably shouldn’t look further into what was obviously Sebastian’s diary, but he couldn’t help it.  Turning the page he found the first entry.

_“September 2010,_

_Dear ~~Diary~~ Book-That-I-Write-In-But-Is-NOT-a-Diary,_

_Mom’s 2 year job in Paris ended this summer, which means I had to go back to the states with her. Don’t get me wrong, I missed my dad and am happy we can all be a family again, but for fuck’s sake, do they have to be so sappy all the time? Arriving at the airport was like being in the final scene of a RomCom. Anyway, they found this private school, Dalton, that they wanted to send me to, so I can continue studying French.  The boys here are magnificent. I joined their show choir, and I can already tell I am going to rule this school.  Also I speak better French than my French teacher. I suspect this will be a long year for both of us._

_~Sebastian_

Kurt turned to the next entry, hoping Sebastian didn’t show his face for a while.

_October 2010,_

_I have a boyfriend.  I never expected it to happen, but when I finally got to see my best friend Jeff again, his brother Matthias was there, and Jeff introduced us. I don’t think he is too happy about the development, but I hope it will be okay.  There was some messing up of the dorm assignments and we ended up sharing a dorm, though I can’t say I am complaining._

_~ Sebastian_

Kurt skipped towards the end of the book, reading an entry from the end of the school year.

_May 2011,_

_Something is weird with Matthias. He stays out really late, and he doesn’t hardly speak to me. I can’t think of anything that has happened to change our relationship, so I must assume that it has something to do with his family.  His father’s company went bankrupt, and I know money is tight for them, but I don’t know how that affects our relationship. Oh, I hear Matthias down the hall. I am going to ask him what is happening._

_~Sebastian_

Kurt flipped forward through the pages.  May 2011 had been the last entry for a few pages, and the following pages were covered in jagged scribbles. A few pages further he saw an entry written in sloppy hand writing, dated November 2011.

_It has taken a long time for me to get enough control to write anything, but hopefully I can explain what happened. I don’t really expect anyone to find this, but maybe it will entertain a curious custodian at the least.   Matthias murdered me.  I don’t believe him, but he said that he had made a deal with a demon, to restore his family’s wealth, and that the price was the life of someone he loved, or his own life.  He never said he loved me, but he must have thought he did. I came back, as a ghost I guess, a few minutes after he shot me, and I saw him lying on the floor, dead. (I guess he didn’t love me) I was shocked to say the least.  The Coroners came, and looked over our bodies, wrapping them up in those black bags, and taking us away.  The police called it a murder-suicide, which to anyone else it did look like that. But, I think that it was the demon that killed Matthias, because one coroner, who was promptly shushed, pointed out that Matthias had rope burns around his neck. One of the cops suggested that he had attempted to hang himself, but I know there is no rope in the room._

_I figured out how to travel through Dalton a while back, it gets harder the further I get from this room, but I made it to the headmasters office. It seems Dalton paid a large sum to the local news crew to keep this quiet.  Anyway, I didn’t know if Matthias’s family got the money, but last time I made my rounds of the campus I saw Jeff, so they must have gotten the money or won the lottery.  Jeff looks happy though. He has that other Warbler, Nick, hanging on his every word. It’s annoying to watch, but I am glad he is happy. I can’t imagine losing his brother and his best friend in one day.  I tried to make contact with him but it seems like I cannot be seen by anyone who doesn’t dorm in the room I passed away in. I am sick of supernatural rules._

_~Sebastian_

Kurt heard a throat clear behind him. “What are you doing with that?” Sebastian asked.


	6. Sebastian's Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt asks Jeff more about Sebastian, and they visit a portrait of him hanging in the freshman hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry for updating later than I hoped, it's finals season, and so I've been busy writing an essay about workplace discrimination. yaahhhooo. :P I Hope you enjoy the chapter, reviews are always welcome. :)

“What are you doing with that?” Sebastian asked.

“Oh, um, well, I wa- and you were- but I didn’t mean t-,”Kurt stammered, feeling like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Well I guess you know why I am stuck here then huh? I did mean for someone to find that when I put it away months ago.  I just assumed I wouldn’t know who it was that read it.  You definitely aren’t a ‘curious custodian,’ you can actually see me.”

“Yeah, um, did they ever figure it out?” Kurt asked.

 “Figure what out, princess?” Sebastian asked.

“I told you not to call me that, and did they figure out that it wasn’t a murder/suicide?”

“No of course not. Last I checked this wasn’t an episode of CSI:Paranormal, your highness.” Sebastian mocked.

“I will not hesitate to surround this room with salt so you can’t ever leave.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I very much would.  I would also go the library and check out all the historical romance books I can find, so that is all you could read for the rest of the year.” Kurt retorted, grinning.

“You’re evil.” Sebastian shook his head.

“No, I’m fabulous.” Kurt replied. Sebastian laughed at that.

“Yes you are, Kurt.” 

“Much better, Bas.”

>>> 

Kurt had woken up a few minutes before his alarm went off, and decided to head out early to breakfast, hopping to run into Jeff and ask him some more about Sebastian, who hadn’t said anything more that previous afternoon. He got dressed and headed out the door with his books, walking down the hall towards Jeff’s room. Finding it, he knocked loudly, remembering when Nick had told him about Jeff’s habit of sleeping through his alarm.

“Whu- just a second.” Jeff’s voice mumbled, the sound of a body thumping to the ground followed after.  

“You alright?” Kurt called through the door, a bit concerned.

“Yeah, totally, no worries!” Jeff called back, and the door opened a second later, revealing Jeff, wrapped up in his comforter, and blond hair going every which way. “What can I do for you, Kurt?” Jeff mumbled sleepily.

“I wanted to talk to you about the student you mentioned a few days ago, Sebastian?” Kurt asked, grateful for his acting skills.

“Oh, yeah I can do that, come in and we can talk while I get ready.” Jeff ushered him inside, sitting him down at the desk, while Jeff made his bed.

“What did you want to know?”  
“I got the impression you two were close? But that he dated your older brother?” Kurt asked.

“Yeah, we spent a lot of time together, we never dated or anything, but I was closer to him that I was to my own brother. Matthias wasn’t bad, don’t get me wrong, but there was something off about him that I never understood.”  Jeff said, shaking his head. “Now that he is gone I kinda wish I had spent more time with him, but I can’t go back and change that now.  Sebastian was the only thing we really had in common besides our parents.”

“Was Sebastian nice?”

“Yeah, well, he was snarky as hell and inappropriate at all the wrong times, but he was nice once you got to know him, though he didn’t like to let people in.”  
“Hm, I remember reading about it in the paper,” Kurt lied, “Did they ever figure out what happened to him? The reports sounded suspicious.”

“It was really weird, it didn’t make sense, what happened, Matthias was under a lot of pressure when our family lost a lot of its money, but he was never violent, or at least that I noticed.  Strangely though after he passed away we gained back a lot of our fortune, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to attend Dalton, like I am now.” Jeff said.

“Yeah, that is weird.” Kurt agreed. “I hope this isn’t intrusive, but was there a funeral?”

“Yes, two separate ones, as you can imagine Sebastian’s parents didn’t want to share a memorial with the guy who killed their son, no matter how much they liked him when they dated. I don’t blame them.”  Jeff had almost finished dressing and was straightening his tie. “You wanna head down to breakfast with me? We can discuss this some more.” Jeff suggested.

“Sure.” Kurt said, standing up, and waiting at the door for Jeff to grab his messenger bag.

“Oh, do you want the next books in that series you were borrowing?” Jeff asked, referring to the books Kurt had borrowed for Sebastian.

“Yes actually.” Kurt said.

Jeff walked over to his book shelf. “Here is the next few in the series, how are you enjoying it?” He handed Kurt a stack of paperbacks.

“Oh, well, it’s really interesting. I haven’t read anything like them before.” Kurt said, trying to remember anything that Sebastian had told him about the books. Coming up blank, he decided that when he got back to his room after class he should ask Sebastian about them in case Jeff wanted to drill him on what happened.

“So are we meeting Nick downstairs?”

“Usually he meets me here but he must have had something to do. Yeah, we should see him downstairs.”  They walked through the halls and down the stairs to the cafeteria. They got their food, and sat at their usual table. The hall was more silent than normal.

“Jeff,” Kurt leaned over to keep his voice down. “Why is it so quiet?”

“Oh, yeah, it’s Sebastian’s birthday. Not many of the people who were close to him go here anymore but everyone seems to have learned to keep quiet today.” Jeff said, nodding to a group of Warblers eating in silence a few tables over.

“Okay, not to be rude, but why is it such a big deal here? I understand you being sad, and his friends, but why has his passing effected the whole school?” Kurt asked, hoping he didn’t offend Jeff.

“Well, Seb was pretty popular, and his father paid a lot of money to this school, so the staff is pretty respectful of his passing, I know the Warblers do it because he used to be one, as for everyone else, I think they just learned. Besides, there is a portrait of him in the freshman wing.”

“Wait, really?” Kurt asked. “Why haven’t I seen it?”

“Well for one, you aren’t a freshman, but I can show you after breakfast. His father had it installed shortly after his passing.” Jeff said.

“Ok, thanks.” Kurt said. They continued their meal in silence, the quiet surrounding them making small talk feel out of place. 

“Hey guys.” Nick said, approaching their table with a plate of scrambled eggs. He sat down next to Jeff, and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. “You doing alright?”

“Yeah, just telling Kurt about what today is.”

“Ah, yeah. Well, do you want to come back to my dorm after classes?” Nick offered.

“Yeah. When we are finished me and Kurt and heading to the freshman wing to look at Seb’s picture.”

“Okay, I really wish they would put it somewhere else, the Warblers room would make more sense, but I don’t understand why the freshman have him, they don’t know who he is, and that place smells like a potent concoction of Axe body spray.”

“I know Nick. The things we go through.” Jeff smiled.

>>> 

“So why are there so many pictures in the freshman hall?” Kurt asked, looking around the walls, which were covered in paintings and pictures of men.”

“I think it is some sort of motivation thing, for the freshman. All the people on the wall are successful alumni, besides Seb.” Jeff informed.

“Oh, I guess that makes sense, though I feel really uncomfortable with all these eyes on me.” Kurt said, side eyeing a painting of a white haired man looking disapprovingly at him.

“Yeah, I wasn’t too fond of it when I was a freshman.” Jeff said, and Nick nodded, agreeing.

“This one gave me the creeps.” Nick pointed at one at the end of the hall, a giant painting of a military general, holding a rifle and staring blanking down the long hall. “I am pretty sure the last thing a hall of hormonal teenage boys needs is a painting of a gun.”

“Oh please, Nick. I know about your military kink.” Jeff smirked. “Come on, Seb’s just around the corner.” Jeff walked down the hall that T’ed off from the painting. They came upon a small study nook, several comfortable chairs, currently unoccupied, surrounded a small table. Above the table on the wall hung a picture that Kurt recognized as Sebastian, though with a bit more color. He didn’t let on that he knew who he was, trying not to cause suspicion.

“That’s him.” Jeff pointed to the picture. “They just used his school portrait, hence the blazer.”

Sebastian was sitting on a stool with his arms folded in his lap, and a smirk on his face.

“Sebastian was never good with pictures.” Jeff grinned.

“Hmm, he is handsome.” Kurt admitted.

“And he knew it.” Jeff said. “Well I hate to bring an end to the post humorous introduction, but class is going to start soon.”

“Alright.” Kurt said, giving the picture another look, before turning back down the hall with Jeff and Nick. The freshman had started filtering in from the cafeteria and were heading to their classes. A cloud of cheap body spray started to smother the walls, and Kurt, Jeff, and Nick picked up their pace, hoping to get out before it got worse.  The reached their destination and mocked coughing, bending over.

“I am so glad I never went here as a freshman.” Kurt said.

“No shit.” Nick said. “It was horrid.” He turned towards Jeff, taking his hand. “So I will see you guys at lunch?”

“Yep.”  Jeff said, squeezing his hand before he let go and turned down a different hall away from Jeff and Kurt.

“So, off to Ms. Cooper’s class I guess.” Jeff said.

“You would be correct.” Kurt and Jeff started walking off to class, and Kurt hoped he would get some time to think about what he had learned about his roommate.

>>> 

Sebastian had woken from his strange ghost sleep, and while wandering saw Kurt walking through the halls with Niff.  He followed them down the hall to the nook with his portrait. He smirked at Kurt’s ‘Handsome’ comment.   After they left he stayed behind, sitting down in one of the plush chairs.

“There is something not quite right about you.” Sebastian said, feeling a sense of terror overcome him. He stuck it through and stared the picture down. “I don’t know what you are, but I’m going to figure it out.” He stood up and walked away, the further he got from the portrait the better he felt, but a small sense of dread stayed inside.


	7. The Picture On the Wall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt and Sebastian investigate the portrait hanging in the freshman hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another update! Now that I am finished with this term I will hopefully be able to update more frequently. Also if you want to find me on tumblr, my kurtbastian blog is a-kurtbastian-to-hold-on-to, and my main blog is kurthummelismyhero. :)

Sebastian walked around the dorm room, sitting down at the desk, before moving to the bed, and back to the desk. He wasn’t sure what to do about what happened in that study hall. He wanted to tell Kurt, but he didn’t get out of class for another few hours. Seb had tried following him around to his classes, thinking maybe that would distract him, but he got bored half way through the first class and had wandered around the school. He went to the library and looked to see if they might have anything on the topic, but he didn’t find anything, which lead him back to being stuck in the room.  He had never felt that feeling before, that had come from the picture, and he had a feeling that even if the picture was of him, it wasn’t him that was doing it. He resigned himself to reading until Kurt got back, hoping Warbler practice would be short.

His concentration on the book broke when the door opened and Kurt walked through.

“Kurt!” Sebastian said, a bit too loudly, whilst jumping out of the desk chair.

“Woah, someone is excited.” Kurt observed.

“Yes, no, okay, so you went and saw that picture in the freshman hall this morning-“ He stated, but Kurt cut him off.

“How do you know that?”

“I was bored, I followed you. Anyway, I stayed there after you left, and something weird happened, I don’t know what caused it, but something feels wrong about it.” Sebastian said.

“What? You don’t think you qualify as an esteemed alumni?” Kurt raised an eyebrow.

“Well, technically no, but that is not what I am talking about, something felt evil, like I could feel it, like a spirit or something, I guess.” Sebastian said, worried he might sound crazy.

“Well, a while ago I would have wondered what you were on, but I guess it doesn’t seem too farfetched. What do you think we can do about it?” Kurt asked.

“We can try to find some books on possession or something? I don’t really know what the protocol for haunted paintings is.” Sebastian said.

“Me neither. Maybe the library has something?” Kurt suggested.

“Nah, I already checked. Can I use your laptop and see if I can find something?” Sebastian asked.

“Yeah, I didn’t know you could use those, being ghost boy and everything.”

“I don’t know if I can either, but it’s worth a shot. Worst case I can just dictate to you.”

“Please don’t ever make me look up porn for you.” Kurt said, horrified at the idea.

“Yeah, that’s not happening.” Sebastian grinned as Kurt pulled out his laptop from his bag, and handed it to him. “Okay, let’s see if I can work this.” Sebastian set it on the desk and opened it, resting his fingers on the keyboard as he waited for it to load. “Alright.” He said as it finished loading. He took the mouse and it moved with his hand. “Fantastic!” He said, opened the web surfer and sat back, not sure what to type. “What about ‘There’s a creepy feeling in my school portrait’?” He said, looking over at Kurt.

“Somehow I don’t think that will work. How about looking up something about supernatural possession of inanimate objects?” Kurt suggested.

“Okay, let’s see if this works.” Sebastian stretched his fingers and made sure they were resting on the right keys. Then he started typing. A ‘S’ appeared in the screen in the search bar. “Good, I still remember how to type.” Sebastian said. He reached over for a high five, and Kurt held his hand up, but Kurt’s hand passed through Sebastian’s. “That is really strange too, we should look that up too.” He said, trying to hide his feelings of disappointment. 

“Well, at least I can search for my own porn.” He said, to lighten the mood.  Kurt laughed at that and strangely it made him feel better.

“Get your mind out of the gutter, Bas, let’s see if we can figure this thing out. Maybe we can figure out why you are stuck here.” Kurt said.

“Yeah, that would probably be good, but let’s start with the painting.” Sebastian clicked on the first link to come up. “Oh, look at this, it says there is a painting that was sold on eBay in 2000 that made people feel sick, oh, and they have some pictures, apparently the doll in the picture moved.” Sebastian motioned to the pictures.

“Okay, so it is possible this has happened before. I don’t think any of these listed here are photographs though, these are all paintings.” Kurt pointed out.

“I don’t see why there wouldn’t be.” Sebastian said.  They continued looking through many more sites before coming to the conclusion that while the picture wasn’t a painting, it was still haunted, though they weren’t sure by what yet.

“What if it’s Matthias?” Kurt asked out of the blue while they were searching through causes for possession.

“What do you mean?” Sebastian asked, confused.

“Well, you said that Matthias isn’t here, right?” Sebastian nodded his head, and Kurt continued. “Maybe he is stuck in the picture, and since you knew him it gives you the creeps, or maybe it is his way to communicate with you. Have you gone there before?” Kurt asked.

“I try to avoid that hall, but I was there when the first put it up, though I didn’t notice anything different, though if I did I forgot.” Sebastian said, thinking back.

“Okay, do you have a picture of you that is the same as the one they put in the painting? Like in a yearbook or something?” Kurt asked.

“Oh, yeah, it would be in the yearbook. I think they keep a copy of it in the library.” Sebastian said. “Do you want to head down there and see it?”

“Yeah, can you come with, or how does it work for you?”

“I don’t really know, I haven’t tried to appear to people outside this room, I mean, I did try to appear, but it didn’t work since they didn’t live in this dorm, so you might be able to see me. If it does work you probably shouldn’t talk to me or they might make you see the nurse.” Sebastian said.

“Okay, let’s head down there. Dinner starts kind of soon, but we can at least get some books checked out.” Kurt grabbed his messenger bag, and walked over to the door and opened. “You ready Seb?”

“Might as well be.” Sebastian said. He walked over to Kurt and walked through, Kurt followed him. “So, can you see me?” Sebastian asked, once they were both in the hallway.

“Yeah.” Kurt said. “Do you think other people can hear you?”

“I haven’t thought about that. I think they might be able too.”

“Okay, well, keep it down until we can figure out how to test that.” The walked down to the library, and Kurt sat down at the library catalog computer. He typed in ‘Yearbook’ and a list of years came up.  

“Hmm, 2008 is it I think.” Sebastian said, pointing to the year on the screen.  They looked up the number and went over to the shelves where they were stored, which was luckily in the back of the library.

“So where would it be in here?” Kurt asked. 

“Turn to the Warblers page, they keep the pictures of the Warblers on a separate page.”

Kurt found the page and looked for Sebastian’s picture. “Oh, here it is.” He said, pointing to it.

“Alright, do you want to see if we can scan it and enlarge it? We can go back to the study nook and see if anything as changed between the two of them.”

“Okay, let me just go to the scanner, I’m not sure that it will be very great quality. Oh!” Kurt said, as he had an idea. “Do you think it would be online anywhere? Either on the school website or in one of the news articles?”

“Possibly, that would work a lot better than scanning it.” They took the yearbook with them, and sat back down at the computer, and began searching for articles about Sebastian’s murder.

“Here is one, and it has your picture!” Kurt exclaimed. He selected it and sent it to the printer. “Do you want to go pick that up?” He asked Sebastian.

“Not unless you want to pay for the therapy of some kid who saw a paper floating.” Sebastian smirked as Kurt rolled his eyes but got up to get the paper himself anyway.

“Well, I am glad that we got this, I guess we won’t need the yearbook anymore.” Kurt set it back in the shelf with the other yearbooks. “Shall we go check out the picture?” Kurt gathered his bag and the paper, and they left the library.

“Do you think you feel that strange feeling again?” Kurt asked quietly, trying not to draw attention to the fact that, to others, he was speaking to thin air.

“I don’t know, I hope not ‘cause it was not fucking fun, but we’ll see.” They turned down the freshman hall, and Kurt’s eyes were again drawn to the many portraits lining the walls.

 “Did you go to school with any of these people?” He asked.

“Not that I know of, I didn’t really talk to a lot of people outside of Jeff and the Warblers though.” Sebastian admitted.

They reached the end of the hall and turned into the study nook, which was luckily empty.

“Okay, let’s see if anything is off.” Kurt said, pulling the picture out of his bag and putting it next to the portrait.

“What about this?” Sebastian said, pointing to the portrait, “my hands are folded differently than in the one on the website.”

“That is definitely suspicious.” Kurt agreed. “Also this, the background is lighter in the website one.”

“Well, there have definitely been some changes. The background could be photoshopping that they did prior to hanging it up, but it’s possible it isn’t. Let’s sit down here and see if anything happens.” Sebastian motioned for Kurt to take a seat in the chair opposite of Sebastian.

“Alright, but I can’t stay long, dinner starts soon, and I can’t miss it, Warblers practice has been brutal, I’m starving.” Kurt said, sitting down.

“I haven’t eaten in 2 years, I think you can survive.” Sebastian said.

“Do you actually feel hunger though? If you do that must suck.”

“Hah! No, no hunger, at least not yet.” They both fell silent and stared at the picture for a few minutes. “Okay this is boring as hell.” Sebastian exclaimed, standing up. “If it really is haunted it probably has some sort of intelligence, and isn’t going to move if it knows we are here.”

“You’re probably right.” Kurt said, slightly defeated. “What are we going to do?”

“I guess we can just check on it every so often? I would suggest leaving a camera here, but I wouldn’t trust the freshman not to take it.”

“Good point. Okay, so can you check it every night, and I can check it before breakfast and when I leave Warblers practice?”

“Yeah, that sounds good, I hope we can figure it out soon.” Sebastian said. He walked over to the picture on the wall and held up his hand to touch the frame. “Ow! Shit! Shit! What the fuck?”

“What happened?” Kurt said, moving to his side.

“I don’t know. Something zapped me!”

“Did you touch the frame? Maybe it was a nail.” Kurt reasoned.

“Kurt, I’m a ghost. I can’t exactly prick my finger, I don’t have a body to be pricked.”

Kurt smirked at that, then schooled his face into something more serious. “Do you think it was the spirit?”

“No, Kurt. I think it was the butler in the library with a candle stick.” He glared. “Yes I think it was the spirit. Or whatever it is. Come on, let’s leave it to creep out freshman while we figure out what it could be.”

“Whatever you say, oh ghosty one.” Kurt mocked, but followed him back down the hall. As they reached the exit, a bell rang.

“Well, that’s dinner.” Kurt said. “I’ll see you afterwards?” Sebastian nodded and they went their separate ways. Sebastian headed back up to the room, planning to see if he could find out more information, and see what his family was doing. Kurt turned down another hall, and headed to the cafeteria.

“Kurt!” Jeff called out, running up to him and pulling him to the Warbler table after he had gotten dinner. “Come eat with us! We have to discuss something about practice.”

“Okay Jeff, I’m coming.” He did his best to balance his plate with one hand as he was shoved into the nearest chair.

Wes, who was sitting at the head of the table, stood up, and tapped his spoon on the table. “Hello esteemed Warblers. It has been brought to my attention that that our dear brother in song, Andrew, has broken his ankle riding his motorcycle home from practice today, and will be unable to perform at the next choir competition.” The Warblers were silent for a moment, and Thad raised his hand.

“Yes Thad?” Wes asked, giving him permission to speak.

“Who then will get the solo? He was set to sing our opening number!” Thad sounded distressed.

“That is true. We will have to find a replacement. Who would like to take over his number? We don’t have time to choice a new song, but we need someone else to step up.” Wes looked each Warbler in the eye, waiting for a volunteer. When his eyes reached Kurt, Kurt felt a hand grab his wrist and hold it up over his head. “Yes Kurt?” Wes asked.

Before Kurt could stutter a response Jeff spoke for him. “Kurt can sing it!”

“What? No I can’t! Other people, Warblers who have been here longer should sing it.” Kurt interjected.

“But Kurt, you have the best voice here, and we really want to win!” Jeff said.

Wes tapped his gavel on the table, signaling everyone to be silent. “Kurt, Jeff is right, you do have the best voice, do you want to sing it? I know it’s lower than normal for you.”

“Um, I guess I can, I think I have the words down, so it shouldn’t be too hard for me to take over, I just need to learn his steps.” Kurt said.

“Okay, then it is settled. Kurt will be singing ‘Being Alive’, our opening number.” The Warblers cheered and they went back to their meal, the impromptu meeting concluded with another tap of the gavel.

When Kurt returned to his room, he found his laptop open to a word document, where Sebastian had typed ‘ **Gone to check on the picture. Don’t wait up**.’ Kurt closed down his laptop and finished some of his homework, before laying down to sleep.

 


	8. The Picture Moves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I hope you enjoy the chapter, I just wanted to note that while Sebastian cannot touch Kurt, he can touch and move objects around him, anything that isn't a person.

Kurt woke to Sebastian shouting in his ear and pulling the blanket off of him. “Kurt! Kurt! Wake up! It moved!”

“Mo- what moved? What’s going on ‘Bastian?” He blinked his eyes open, trying to focus on Sebastian’s figure.

“The picture! I saw it blink.” Sebastian exclaimed.

“Are you sure?” Kurt asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Yes I’m sure! It blinked and I saw it open its’ mouth to say something.” Sebastian said. “Come on! Let’s go see if it will do it again!”

“What time is it even? My alarm hasn’t gone off yet, has it?”

“No, of course not, it’s only 3AM.” Sebastian said.

“It’s ‘only’ 3AM? Sebastian, I have class and practice tomorrow and I have to drive back home for the weekend. Let me sleep, we can watch it when I get back on Monday.” Kurt said, rolling over and dragging the blanket back up over his shoulders.

“No, this can’t wait Kurt! Come with me.” Sebastian took ahold of the blanket and pulled it off the bed, only for Kurt to fall onto the floor.

“Sebastian, you idiot!” Kurt glared at him while holding the elbow he landed on.

“Sorry. But since you’re up, let’s go look at the picture!” Sebastian walked over to the closet and brought Kurt his bathrobe. “Put it on and let’s go!”

“You sure are chipper for this early in the morning.” Kurt said, but slipped on the bathrobe and stood up.  “Aren’t we supposed to stay in our rooms here until 6AM?”

“Yeah, but you won’t get caught. I checked, all the teachers went home or are sleeping in their apartments across campus.” Sebastian assured him.

“Okay, but if I get caught I’m gonna find a way to get back at you.” Kurt grumped, and opened the door, walking out and down the hall, as Sebastian walked beside him.  “So did you feel anything?” He asked.

“I felt a bit creeped out, but I think that might have just had to do with the fact that I saw a picture move, and not so much with whatever is moving the picture.” Sebastian replied. “I could be wrong, but watching yourself move is pretty creepy when you know you aren’t the one doing it.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” Kurt said. “You know I have a long Warbler practice this afternoon, I am going to hate you so much.”

“Why do you have to stay late? Did you break a nail and have to go to the nurse’s office?”

“Asshole. No, apparently Warbler Andrew broke his ankle so I am taking over his part.”

Sebastian looked at him, eyes wide. “What?” Kurt asked.

“They gave you a solo? You are a new member though.” Sebastian said, confused.

“I know, I wasn’t going to volunteer, but Jeff insisted, and apparently Wes seems to think I am one of the best singers that the Warblers have.”

“Hm, it took me like half a year to even earn a verse in the group number. You must be better than I thought.” Sebastian said.

“You have heard me sing before, I’m doing ‘Being Alive’, remember I was singing that earlier?”

“Of course I remember.” Sebastian rolled his eyes. “It just surprises me. I guess you will be usurping Wes next?”

“Hah, no, I don’t have a gavel fetish, so I’m not qualified.” They both laughed as the turned down the freshman hall.

“Do you think any of these other pictures are haunted?” Sebastian asked.

“I don’t really know, has anyone else died here?”

“Not that I know of, but I didn’t really read the paper much before I went here, and I doubt my parents would have told me about it.” Sebastian said.

“Do you know how your parents are doing?” Kurt asked, noticing that Sebastian had looked sad when he mentioned his parents.

“I looked up the news for them, but nothing big has happened, same old business stuff.” Sebastian said.

“Oh I’m sorry, I wish you could see them.” Kurt said.

“I just wish I could have said goodbye, you know?” Sebastian admitted.

“I do know, I lost my mom when I was eight.” Kurt said.

“I’m sorry about that. It really sucks huh?”

“Pretty much, but my dad is really cool and he married my step-mom, and I really like her, so it isn’t as bad as it could have been.” Kurt said.

“Well, here we are.” Sebastian said, mockingly flourishing his arms towards the painting.

Kurt stood close to it, looking at the eyes. “Sebastian, I think the eyes moved too, before they were looking into the camera and now they look like they are looking over there.” Kurt pointed to one of the chairs. Sebastian moved and sat down in it.

“I think you are right, I feel like the eyes are staring right at me.”

“I don’t think this is a good development. It seems to be keeping an eye on you keeping an eye on it.”  Kurt said.

“Well that could be a problem. Hey, maybe you should ask some of the freshman about it! They might know something.” Sebastian suggested.

Okay, I can do that after the weekend. Right now though I am going to go back to bed. I can’t believe you got me up this early to look at a picture, of you. If anyone else heard about this they would think you were a narcissist.” Kurt waved to Sebastian to come with him, and they headed back. Kurt unlocked the door to his room and walked toward the bed. “I am going to sleep for the 2 hours I have until my alarm goes off, and you are going to stay quiet. Okay?” Kurt dropped his robe and slipped into bed.

Sebastian grinned and bowed. “Yes, your royal highness.”

“Very good, Seb, you’re learning.” Kurt muttered, before he folded his knees up to his chest and closed his eyes, falling asleep quickly.

“Sleep well, Kurt.” Sebastian said, as he faded away to await morning.

>>> 

Kurt woke to music playing from his laptop. Throwing the blanket off of him, he sat up, and looked over to where Sebastian was sitting at the computer.

“I thought you might want to sleep in, and have a gentle awakening, since you were up last night.” Sebastian said, motioning to where Kurt’s alarm clock read 3o minutes past the normal time that he woke.

“Thanks. Don’t do that again though, I like to get all my sleeping done in one go.”

“Duly noted.” Sebastian said. “What are you doing today then?”

Kurt yawned and stretched before answering. “Well, I have class, Warbler practice, which is going to run long, since I have to learn the new steps. I don’t move around a lot, since it’s a pretty mellow song, but they have to reorganize everyone else too. Then I have to get any homework that I need to do and head back to my house for the weekend.”

“Must we part so soon?” Sebastian asked, putting his hand over his heart and staring longingly out the window.

“Oh fuck off.” Kurt rolled his eyes and got out of bed, throwing a pillow at Sebastian.

“You excited though?” Sebastian asked. “To see your family I mean?”

“Yeah. I miss them a lot, though with all the work and paranormal stuff I have to deal with here I tend to forget.” Kurt admitted.

“I always like the weekends because the library is closed most of the time so I can hang out there without people bothering me, and hey, now I can use the computers.” Sebastian said.

“Oh, I almost forgot, I need you to give me a rundown of what happens in those books I’m borrowing for you, Jeff was asking me if I like them, and I don’t know anything about them.”

“What, you can’t just say your ghost roommate needs reading material?”

“Matter of fact, I might just try that. Who knows? It could work.” Kurt glared at Sebastian who grinned back at him.

“Okay, I’ll give you a rundown while you are packing.” Sebastian said.

“Thank you for your cooperation.” Kurt got dressed and turned back to Sebastian, who had begun browsing the internet on Kurt’s laptop. “Are you going to spend all your time on that now?”

“I was thinking I could find out anything more about my parents, since unlike you, I can’t exactly go home on the weekends.” Sebastian said, continuing to scroll through his google search, while an idea formed in Kurt’s head.

>>> 

Practice was hell. It ran late, until a bell made Wes let them go to get dinner, and Kurt was entirely worn out. He wasn’t the only one though. Jeff was almost silent during the entirety of dinner, only speaking to complain or ask Nick something. After the Warblers spent 5 minutes convincing Wes to not make them go back to practice after dinner, Kurt made his way up to his room. Without acknowledging Sebastian, who was still seated at the computer, he fell face first onto his bed and let out a groan.

“Hi Kurt. How was practice?” Sebastian asked, looking over his shoulder at the body on the bed.

“Uuuugghhhh.” Was the only response his query received.

“That fun eh?” He turned to face Kurt.  The blazer clad lump rolled over, glaring back.

 “I am going to kill Wes.” Kurt groaned.

“Have fun with that.” Sebastian laughed. “You think you can take him down?”

“I’ll use my sais.” Kurt said.

Sebastian looked at him. “Your what?”

Kurt reached under his pillow and pulled 2 small swords-like weapons out. “Sais.” He enunciated.

“Why do you keep them under your pillow?” Sebastian asked, sounding concerned.

“I figured if you annoyed me I could see if these would hurt you.” Kurt said.

“Kitten’s literally got claws. I’m impressed.” Sebastian said.

“Hah, actually I just didn’t want to worry about one of the dorm monitors finding them.”

“I am pretty sure there are more secure places in here for you to hide stuff than under your pillow.”

“Well I haven’t found anything better yet.” Kurt said.

“Tell you what, while you’re off visiting your folks, I will figure something out for them?” Sebastian offered. “It will give me something to do.”

“Okay,” Kurt said. “Are you going to need anything from me?”

“Yes, are you going to need to use this text book here?” He asked, pulling a giant book of shelf.

“No, have at it, I guess.” Kurt said.

“Thanks.” Sebastian said.  “Are you going to start packing soon?”

“I should.” Kurt sat up on the bed and stood up. “Wanna tell me about those books?”

“Yes sir!” Sebastian said.

While Kurt packed up a few of the things he would need at home, hair spray, moisturizer and the like, Sebastian rambled on about the books. Kurt wasn’t entirely sure what he was talking about all the time, but at least he now had some idea of what happened.

>>> 

When Kurt returned to Dalton Sunday afternoon he was glad to finally see his dorm room.  He enjoyed his visit home of course, but he hadn’t gotten much time to himself and strangely enough he found himself missing Sebastian.

 


	9. Kurt and Seb learn more about the Picture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a/n: sorry I haven't updated in a while, my muse left for a while but I am going to try to stay on track. :)

Kurt returned to his dorm room after an extra-long warbler practice. “Hey Sebastian.” He said, a habit he had picked up, whether or not Sebastian was visibly there. Sebastian appeared on the bed, reading the next book in the series he liked.

“How was practice?” Sebastian asked, noting the sweat on Kurt’s brow.

“Hell. I can’t wait for this to be over with. I love the Warblers, but my god Wes makes us practice till our feet blister, and then some.” Kurt groaned, flopping down next to Sebastian.

“Well, you don’t have to get up for quite a while.” Sebastian pointed out. “You missed dinner.”

“That’s okay, Wes fed us pizza.” Kurt muttered into the pillow.

“You going to sleep? It is around 7pm now.”

“Yeah, I think I will.” Kurt said, getting up to change into his pajamas and shut of the light. Returning to the bed he got under the covers. Sebastian stayed on the bed continuing to read.   
“You’re planning on staying there, huh?” Kurt asked, eyes closed.

“Yep.”

>>> 

The morning proved to be no less painful than the evening. Kurt sat on his bed, staring at the blisters on his ankles. “I hate Wes so much.” He said to himself, glaring at the shoes he needed to put on. A knock sounded at the door. “Come in!” Kurt called.

“Hey Kurt!” Jeff said, walking through the door with Nick at his heel. “We figured you probably had blisters, we got them frequently our first years as Warblers, but we got some cream that helps with them.”

“Thanks guys.” Kurt said, taking the cream offered and putting some on the blisters. “I hope this is over soon.”

“Well, only 2 weeks until sectionals, but in a few days you will get used to the pain.” Nick said.

“Wes said we would just do vocal practice today though, if that helps.” Jeff said, smiling. “I think we are just going to run through the set a few times, that’s it.”

“Oh, god I hope that’s it.” Kurt groaned, gritting his teeth as he pulled on his shoes. “I am this close to hurting him.”

“Don’t worry, that is a common feeling.” Jeff joked. “Come with us! We’re going to breakfast now.”

Kurt grabbed his bag, and walked out, but before he closed the door he leaned in, saying, ‘Bye Sebastian!”

“What did you say?” Jeff asked.

“Oh, um, ‘It must have been?’ I was thinking about a dream I had.” Kurt said, hoping he sounded convincing.

“Uh huh, sure…” Jeff said, looking at Kurt strangely. They continued walking down to breakfast, and Kurt did his best to ignore the glances Jeff kept shooting him from across the table.

>>> 

Kurt walked down to his Navigator after the short Warbler practice finished. His feet were grateful for the reprieve and he was glad he had more time to carry out his plan. Getting into his Navigator, he pulled a slip of paper out of his bag and tapped the address written on it into his GPS.

He drove for 30 minutes, before seeing his destination. Kurt parked his car a few blocks away, and changed his clothes in the back seat. He didn’t want Sebastian to ask where he was going so he didn’t give him the opportunity to ask. Getting out of the Navigator in black skinny jeans and a purple shirt, he walked back up the street.

Into view came a giant estate. Sprawling fields through which a long paved driveway lead to a mansion.  A classic red stable was set to the side, several paddocks and a training arena where in front of the stable, and a large flower garden and lawn were on the other side of the mansion. Kurt turned down a side street that lead closer to the garden. Passing the garden, a small family cemetery appeared, where several tall marble tomb stones sat, each surrounded by a square of flowers. A small bench stood in front of one of them.

Kurt looked around him, hoping no one saw him. He was pretty sure that no one was home, and the windows facing him were closed, but he wanted to be done with this as quickly as possible. Hopping over the fence, he walked over to the cemetery, approaching the one closest to the bench. Sitting down he looked up to the gravestone. An angel sat atop it, hands folded in front, as if in prayer. ‘Sebastian Thomas Smythe, 1993-2009, beloved son’  “and pretentious ass.’’ Kurt added. Kurt looked around, seeing if he could see something that could help with Sebastian’s predicament. Seeing nothing he stood up again and made his way back to his Navigator, hoping that he could get back to Dalton before arousing suspicion from Sebastian.

>>> 

“Sebastian?” he called, stepping into his room. Sebastian appeared, sitting on the floor, doing something on Kurt’s laptop. “Oh, hey. Do you want to go talk to the freshman about the picture before I have to leave for dinner?”

“Sure,” Sebastian said. “Just let me close this down.” He took the laptop and closed it before setting it on the desk. “We should see if anyone hangs out near it, they are more likely to notice it.” Kurt set down his bag, and changed back into his uniform while Sebastian finished with the computer.

They left the room together and wandered down to the freshman hall, only stopping shortly for a short conversation with one of Kurt’s classmates asking about homework. They made it to the study nook and were grateful to find it occupied by a few freshman.

“Um, hello.” Kurt said, unsure how to go about it.

“Yes?” one of the boys said, sounding annoyed and still looking down at his book.

“I would like to ask you some questions, if you don’t mind.” Kurt said, trying to refrain from spoiling the ending of the novel in the boy’s hands.

They boy turned his head up to look at Kurt, and his expression quickly changed from annoyed to flirtatious. Sebastian, standing beside Kurt, but invisible to the boy, rolled his eyes. He turned to Kurt. “I don’t like this kid.”

Kurt wanted to reply but the realization that talking to thin air wasn’t likely to help stopped him.

“So, what do you want to ask me, sweetheart?” The boy said, standing up. “Are you a new transfer, do you need a tour guide?”

“I can make my way around here well enough, thank you.” Kurt said, hoping to get through this conversation without saying something rude, or laughing at the obscene gestures that Sebastian was making.  “I actually wanted to ask you and your friends here about this picture here. You see, I am new, and I was curious as to why a student’s picture is hanging in this hall.”

“Oh, well I never knew the kid in the picture, but my cousin, Matthias dated him, they didn’t put up a picture of Matthias though, made up some lie about Matthias being the murderer, but I was able to do something for him.” The boy said. “By the way, I’m Adin.” He held out his hand.

Kurt shook his hand, and introduced himself. “Well, I really should be going, dinner will start soon.” Kurt turned away, walking back up the hall before Adin stopped him.

“Well, it would be a shame for such a handsome boy to eat by himself, care to join me and my friends?” Adin asked, as if he didn’t expect to be turned down.

“I think I’ll pass, the Warblers will miss me.” Kurt replied, winking. Sebastian huffed beside him. Walking away, Sebastian turned to Kurt.

“I don’t like that guy.”

“Now why is that? I thought he actually reminded me of you a bit.” Kurt said, grinning.

“You’re crazy! He is nothing like me.”

“Are you saying that when you went here you didn’t flirt with everything with legs?”

“That is- this isn’t about me. This is about that ‘Adin’ boy checking you out.”

“Does it bother you that he was attracted to me?” Kurt asked.

“What? No, I mean, but..” Sebastian trialed off.

“Come on, I’m going to dinner now.” Kurt laughed, and picked up his pace. He had noticed Sebastian acting strangely around him, and wondered if this had anything to do with that. >>>

Finishing dinner, Kurt returned to his room to meet back up with Sebastian. “What do you think Adin meant when he said he was able to do something for him?”

“I don’t know, I suggest we check out that picture again, we might have missed something.” Sebastian said. Kurt opened his mouth to speak but Sebastian interrupted. “Why did you visit my grave today?”

“How did you know?” Kurt asked.

“I can tell, I don’t know why, maybe because my body is there, but I can hear the things said there. No one visits there very much, and they never say anything, so when I heard a hushed ‘pretentious ass’ I knew you were the only one who could be there, and that would call me that, except for Jeff, but I saw him leave for a date with Nick.”

“Oh, well, I went there to see if I could find anything.” Kurt said.

“Did you?”

“No, there was nothing there of interest. No offense.” 

“Hm. Well, let’s check the picture once everyone goes to their dorms. I want to get this figured out.” Sebastian said, and faded out of sight, leaving to wander around the school.

 


	10. Bye bye drawing and other things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt and Sebastian discover what has been keeping Sebastian there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry for not updating, I have been working on several other stories, I'm like 6k into a Boys Over Flowers AU and have been working on some oneshots, but I think there will only be 2 chapters after this one. Enjoy!

Kurt changed into some pajamas so that once the visit to the picture was complete he could fall into bed immediately upon arrival at his room. He sat down to do some light reading whilst waiting for Sebastian to return from his rounds.

“Alright, all clear.” Sebastian said a few minutes later, surprising Kurt, who jumped.  “Boo!” Sebastian said, noticing Kurt’s movement. “Shall we head out?” he asked.

“Yeah, let me put some shoes on though.” Kurt said, setting his book down and pulling some slippers out of his closet. They made their way down the halls and into the freshman hallway. Turning, they arrived at the study nook, where the picture hung the same as it had before.

“I think that Adin kid might have done something to it.” Sebastian said, suspiciously.

“Why are you always calling him ‘Adin Kid’? He is the same age as you, almost.”

“Technically I am 18, thank you very much.” Sebastian huffed, lifting the picture off of the nail it hung on. “I don’t see anything on the wall, maybe there is something in the frame?”

Kurt took the picture from Sebastian and knelt down next to the small coffee table, setting the picture upside down on it. “I don’t see anything, maybe it’s inside?” Kurt suggested.

“Yeah, maybe.” Sebastian agreed. Kurt worked on removing the cardboard backing and setting it beside the frame.

“What is this?” Kurt asked, pulling out a small piece of paper. Kurt turned it over, revealing a drawing. “I think this is you, Sebastian!” Kurt exclaimed.

“I don’t remember this.” Sebastian said. “Matthias must have done it, he didn’t draw very much but it kind of looks like his style, and that is him in the picture next to me. That must be what that Adin kid was talking about.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “Well, what should we do with it now? It could be what is controlling the picture.”

“I guess we could burn it? That seems like the best bet, I can’t imagine anything else we could do.”

Kurt nodded. “We might as well try that.” Kurt put the drawing in his pocket, and replaced the cardboard backing. “Go on, put this back up and we can take this to my room, hopefully we can dispose of this without setting of the alarm.”

Sebastian put the picture back up and followed Kurt down the hall. “Are we going to burn it tonight?”  
“I don’t see why not, I want to get rid of that thing before it hurts someone, if it ever moves beyond giving you the heebie jeebies.” Kurt said, unlocking the door to his dorm. “I have to find a lighter first, I think I have one for some candles I got earlier this term.” Kurt dug through his desk drawer, pulling out a red campfire lighter. “Okay, I’ll put it in this candle dish and we can hold it out the window so it doesn’t cause a problem.”

“Kurt, you are going to look ridiculous.” Sebastian said crossing his arms.

“I don’t care, I’m not letting my room smell like smoke.” Kurt held his arm out the window, preparing to light the folded paper in the dish.

“Kurt, just put it on the window sill, it will be fine.” Sebastian said. “If it makes the walls sooty I will clean them myself.”

“Uh huh, sure.” Kurt said, but he put the dish on the sill, and watched as the paper turned black and began burning up. “’Bastian, do you think that ther-“ Kurt started to say, but was interrupted by Sebastian, who looked terrified.  “What is it?” Kurt said, concerned.

“I don’t think something is right.” Sebastian said, looking at Kurt. “I feel warm.” Sebastian’s eyes grew bigger as he looked around for whatever might be causing it.  The drawing burning on the sill light up brighter, entirely engulfed in flame, and Sebastian disappeared.

Kurt frantically called his name. “Sebastian! Don’t just disappear! Come back, please?” Kurt looked at the drawing, which was now ash in the dish. He set it on the desk to cool, and continued to call for Sebastian.

>>> 

The next morning there was still no sight of Sebastian. Kurt got dressed and checked the placement of the bookmark in Sebastian’s book, but it was in the same place as before. Kurt looked over his desk and nightstand, but there were no notes there either. He gathered his school supplies and headed out the door. He wanted to look for Sebastian, but it seemed rude to skip class when his father was paying so much for him to attend Dalton.

Walking down the hall he met up with Jeff and Nick, who were discussing the last Warbler practice before the weekend. “You ready for a break, Kurt?” Jeff asked. “Only a week left of practices until we can go to compete.”

“I am ready for Wes to stop breathing down my neck during rehearsal that is for sure.”  
Jeff laughed at that. “Don’t worry Kurtie, you will be free soon. Until the next set list is created if we win that is.”

They headed to breakfast and class, the day dragged on. Kurt found it hard to focus, with Sebastian gone. He thought maybe he was playing some prank on him, but somehow he didn’t think Sebastian would do that. When he returned to his room after practice, his feet were killing him, but at least he was finally free for 2 days. Wes had made him promise to practice singing, but he didn’t have to do the steps, and Kurt was thankful for that. Kurt pulled together the things that he would need over the weekend, and changed into his street clothes, before biding Jeff and Nick farewell and leaving for home.

His Dad and Carole were glad to see him. Finn would have been too, but he was spending the weekend camping with Puck.

Burt looked Kurt over. “Something wrong kid? You seem blue.”

“Boy trouble?” Carole asked with a smile.

“Um, not exactly.” Kurt answered, unsure how to explain his sadness, without mentioning that his roommate was a ghost. “Just stressed out with our singing competition coming up. Wes has been making us rehearse a lot.”

“Oh, when is it? I want to see you perform!” Carole exclaimed.

“Next Monday at 4PM, in the Columbus Community Theatre.”  Kurt said, Wes having drilled the location into their heads over the past few practices.

“We will be there!” Carole said. “I can wear that new dress you got me.” She smiled.

“Do you want something to eat?” Burt asked. “Carole made some salad.”

“You sound so thrilled.” Kurt said sarcastically.

“It’s not bad don’t get me wrong. Just different.”

“There’s strawberries in it and it scares him.” Carole stage whispered.

“I just don’t know why you would put fruit in salad. That is all I am saying.” Burt mumbled.

“Oh, just try some of it, then you can make up your mind.” Carole said, ushering them into the kitchen, to where the table was set for three.

After a dinner full of questions about school and his friends, he retired to his room to sleep.

The rest of the weekend was spent watching sports with Burt and taking Carole shopping. He had hoped that it had been enough to take his mind off of what happened to Sebastian, but it wasn’t. Even Carole noticed and took him out for ice cream.

When he finally returned to Dalton he was extremely worried. He didn’t think that he would have become so attached to the ‘skeleton in his closet’ but now without Sebastian his room to tease him he felt lonely.

He woke up Monday morning tired, and drug himself down to the cafeteria to eat with Niff. He moped through his classes, unsure if there is anything he could do to bring Sebastian back.


	11. Reunions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a precaution, at the beginning of the chapter there is a scene of waking up in a coffin, if that freaks you out skip past the part until you see the '>>>>>>>'.

Sebastian gasped. Air rushed into his lungs, making him cough. He opened his eyes, and felt the air sting them, but he couldn’t see anything. Wherever he was, it was dark. He lifted his arm, which felt strangely stiff, and felt his way around. Below him it was soft, and he thought maybe he was just waking up from a strange dream, but then as he felt further to the side he felt a padded wall, that reached a padded ceiling a few inches above him. “Where am I?” He asked himself, his mouth was extremely dry.

He knew he had to get out of here, and here seemed to be a coffin. He began to kick at the lid, hoping he could break it and be able to dig his way out. The lid gave way, and a cloud of dirt fell into the coffin. Using his feet he packed the dirt into his coffin and slowly dug his way out with his hands, wrapping his shirt around his face so he wouldn’t breathe in the dirt. He felt the ground begin to become damper and figured that he must be nearing the surface. His fingers broke through the surface, and he could feel the cold grass brushing his hand. He moved further up, getting a grip on the ground to pull himself up.

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” The shrill scream pierced the air, shocking Sebastian and halting him in his progress to reach the surface.

“William! William!” The voice continued, and Sebastian thought it sounded familiar. He continued climbing out.

“I’m coming Belle.” A second voice said. “What the hell happened?”

“Look! A hand! What is it doing there?” Belle said hysterically.

“I’ll help them out, and we can see who thought pulling this sick prank would be funny.” William said gruffly. Sebastian felt his hand be grasped, as he was assisted out of the ground.

“Alright punk,” William said, helping Sebastian get the shirt off his head. “Why did yo-“ William stopped when he saw Sebastian’s face. “Seb-, Sebastian? Is that you?”

Belle looked over when her husband said their son’s name. “What?” She rushed over to look at Sebastian.

Unsure how to explain the whole situation, Sebastian looked back and forth between them, before saying, “Hi Mom, Hi Dad.”

>>>>>>>> 

 

Kurt wasn’t sure what to do.  Sebastian was nowhere to be found, and he didn’t have much time to look for him while Wes had him rehearsing constantly. Any spare second he had was devoted to researching how to speak to ghosts, a desperate attempt lead him to sitting on his dorm room floor with an Ouija board, but nothing had happened.

Several days before the Warblers left for the choir competition, Kurt and Jeff were sitting in Jeff’s dorm room, during their well-earned day off. 

“Kurt, is there a boy in your life or something?” Jeff asked.

“Why would you say that?”

“Well you’re sad all of a sudden, so either you’re sad about a boy, or you’re stressed about choir.”

“Maybe I’m stressed about choir.” Kurt said with a huff.

“Maybe I’m the queen of England. You have the best number and by far the best voice in the Warblers, so I don’t think it has to do with that.”

“Fine, there’s a boy.” Kurt muttered, but smiled.

Jeff looked excited. “What is he like? Are you dating?”

“No. I was seeing him for a while, but we were just friends.”

“Were?” Jeff prompted.

“He disappeared.” Kurt said. “I haven’t seen him in quite a while and I have no way to get a hold of him.”

“I’m sorry,” Jeff said. “If it makes you feel better he sounds like an asshole.”

“Oh he was.” Kurt grinned. “So how was your date with Nick yesterday?” He said, changing the subject.

~~~

Sebastian sat at the breakfast table, after a few days he had gotten used to the strange glances his parents sent him when they thought he wouldn’t notice, but he understood that people don’t come back from the dead every day. He looked up at his dad who was sitting across from him. “Dad, can I borrow the car tomorrow?” He asked.

“Sure.” William said. He wondered where his son might be going, so soon after returning into their lives, and into his own.

___

 

Finally it became time for the competition. Kurt joined the Warblers on the bus as they warmed up their voices on the way to the concert hall. Kurt sat in front of Niff, and they spent their time talking about the other contestants. Kurt was going to be competing against his old school and he was kind of nervous about seeing them, and he hoped he could just avoid the confrontation entirely. Maybe he should have told Finn to not speak to him, he thought.

Luckily they weren’t very far from their destination, and soon they were off the bus. Kurt still felt sad, wondering if he would ever see Sebastian again, but as the days grew, he realized that maybe Sebastian would never come back, after all, it was only due to some strange magic that they even met in the first place.

The Warblers piled off the bus and went into the building to sign in, and were directed to their green room. Wes insisted that they run through the steps for their set list again, so the boys got into position and went through them. Kurt was glad he didn’t mess up, he may be distracted, but these steps were ingrained in his memory.

The competition began and the Warblers were up first. After the hosts, a narcoleptic dog and its owner, a retired small town talk show host, and a door to door gag gift salesman finished their spiel the Warblers took position. The lights came on, and the performance began. The first number went off without a hitch, and as they got back into position for the next number Wes patted Kurt on the back, a silent wishing of luck.

As the spotlight centered on Kurt standing in front of the Warblers, he began to sing.  He had been singing this song in his head for the past several weeks, the excessive practice drilling it into his head, but now as he sang it, he started to think that he might understand the meaning of it.

The lights dimmed as the song ended, leaving Kurt in the dark. Just as quickly though they came on again as the Warblers began their next number, a top ten pop song, leaving the crowd feeling pumped, and dancing in their seats.

As they exited the stage Kurt thought he saw someone familiar in the crowd, but when he looked again he couldn’t find them.

The Warblers made their way back to the green room, but Kurt pulled Wes aside outside the door.

“Wes, I’m going to go be by myself for a while, if they call you back on stage just go without me okay?”

Wes raised an eyebrow. “Okay, but only since you did such a good job out there. I’ll have someone call you when it’s time to get on the bus.”

“Thanks, Wes.” Kurt said, and he turned down the corridor to find a place to sit. He wandered through the halls, until he came upon a nook, where a bench was set in front of a window. He sat down, and thought through the feelings running across his mind.  Firstly, he knew he missed Sebastian. He didn’t want to admit it, but the dorm was so lonely without him, and Kurt kept jumping at every little noise, wondering if Sebastian was back.  Then he thought about the song. Being Alive had begun just as a song he sang for choir, and one that he sang to piss of Sebastian, but now he wished he could sing it again and wait for Sebastian to appear and tell him to shut up. He was a mess. He let his head fall into his hands and he tried to pull himself together. He didn’t want to cry in the hall of a strange building. He tried shaking his head, but stopped when a familiar voice spoke.

“That isn’t going to help.”

Kurt looked up shocked. Standing in front of him, in grey dress pants and an unbuttoned at the collar green shirt, stood Sebastian, who appeared to be fully human. “What happened to you? Why are you here?” He stammered, staring.

Sebastian moved closer, sitting down beside Kurt. “I guess whoever the Powers That Be are decided that I was worth a second, or third chance at life.” He said, putting his hand on Kurt’s knee. “I guess I ‘came back’ a few days ago, but I had to spend a lot of time explaining, or trying to explain things to my parents. As you can imagine they were rightfully concerned. I have had so many doctors’ appointments in the past 2 days you would not believe it.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Kurt said. He felt scared. Before, liking Sebastian had been safe, no matter their feelings they could never be together, Sebastian being dead and all, but now, there was the possibility for success, and for failure, and Kurt didn’t even know if Sebastian was interested in trying at all.

“I thought you might be happy to see me.” Sebastian said, shooting Kurt a smile. “I know I am happy to see you.”

“Really?” Kurt asked, lifting his head up a bit higher.

“Really.” Sebastian confirmed.

“Have you told anyone else you are back?” Kurt asked, but Sebastian shook his head before he could finish. “Not even Jeff?”

“No, you were the first person I wanted to tell.” Sebastian said, rubbing his thumb back and forth on Kurt’s knee. “I wanted to tell you because I like you, and I was hoping you might like me as well.”

For a second Kurt thought Sebastian looked hesitant. “I do, like you, I mean.” Kurt said, avoiding Sebastian’s eyes.

“That’s good, I was thinking about kissing you after this, and it would be awkward if you didn’t.”

“You want to kiss me?” Kurt asked, meeting Sebastian’s eyes.

“There hasn’t been anything more I have wanted to do since I came back.”

“Oh, well I guess you could do that now, if you wanted to.”

“Do you want me to?” Sebastian asked, leaning closer.

“So very much.” Kurt said, but before he could finish his last word Sebastian leaned in the final distance and pressed his soft lips against Kurt’s.

“Ahem.” A voice said. “Is that you Kurt?”

They separated and Kurt looked up to address the person. “Jeff?! What are you doing here?”

“Well, Kurt, Wes told me you were going to go off and do something and I wanted to see if you were okay. I must say you look ‘more’ than okay.” Jeff said, raising his eyebrows.

Kurt glanced at Sebastian who was doing his best to hide his face.

“Oh um, this wasn’t planned…” Kurt waved at the space between himself and Sebastian.

“Are you going to introduce me to your friend?” Jeff asked, grinning.

Sebastian sighed. “I guess now is as good as ever.” He stood up and held out his hand. “Hello, Jeff.”

Jeff screamed.

“Shhh!” Kurt shushed him, trying not to draw attention to them. Kurt and Sebastian helped Jeff sit down, the whole while Jeff was staring at Sebastian.

“You’re alive.” He said, still in shock.

“Yeah.” Sebastian said, deciding to leave it at that, the ghost thing was a bit complicated to explain.

“What happened? Did you ever actually die?” Sebastian flinched at how angry and betrayed Jeff sounded.

“I… It’s hard to explain, but yes, I was dead.” Sebastian replied.

Jeff still looked confused, and when he looked back at Kurt he got even more puzzled. “Wait, how do you know Kurt?”

Kurt glanced at Sebastian. How where they going to explain it without sounding insane? Luckily Sebastian was a quick thinker.

“He visited me while I was recovering.” Sebastian said. “No one else was allowed to see me until now.” At least that wasn’t and entire lie.

Jeff nodded, and before he could think of another question to ask he burst into tears.

Kurt wrapped his arms around Jeff, realizing how confused Jeff must be at that moment, seeing his best friend for the first time after his death two years ago would be shocking to say the least.

Kurt glanced over at Sebastian who was awkwardly watching Jeff, blinking away his own tears. Kurt caught his eye. “Come here, Seb.”

Sebastian leaned forward, sandwiching Jeff between him and Kurt. Kurt did his best to comfort the two boys, reunited after so long apart.


	12. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end! I hope you enjoyed this fic, my first long-ish one! Thank you for reading and commenting/giving kudos! ♥

Sebastian and Kurt were curled up on one end of Jeff’s couch, opposite of Jeff and Nick. Nick had been even more confused when Jeff had tried to explain the situation to him, but once he had seen how happy Jeff was, he didn’t much care about the specifics.

“Well, do we want to start in on ‘A New Hope’ or should we make some more popcorn?” Kurt asked, knowing that by asking the question he had automatically volunteered to make the popcorn if they wanted it. He didn’t mind though, they had been sitting on that couch for the past 5 hours, watching all the Star Wars prequels. Jeff had been appalled that Sebastian hadn’t seen them in years and had immediately demanded that they have sleepover and marathon all the Star Wars movies.

“Some popcorn would be great, Babe.” Sebastian said. Kurt untangled himself from Sebastian’s grip. After two years of not being able to touch anyone Sebastian had become a bonafide cuddle whore.

“Come help me Nick.” Kurt said, pulling Nick from Jeff’s embrace and bringing him into the kitchen with him.

“I didn’t figure you to be one to need help with popcorn.” Nick joked, leaning against the kitchen counter.

“Ha, no. I just thought that Jeff and Seb would like some time alone together.” Kurt said, looking through the cupboards for the popcorn box.

“Left one above the stove.” Nick said, before continuing. “That’s a good idea. Jeff has spent all of his time with Sebastian the past few weeks, I have hardly seen him, but that is to be expected, I guess.”

Since Jeff has learned of Sebastian’s return, they had alternated between living at each other’s houses, Jeff was on a mission to update Sebastian on all the superhero movies that had come out since Sebastian’s death. Because of this, Kurt and Nick had become pretty good friends, hanging out with each other while Jeff and Sebastian exchanged inside jokes.  

Kurt took down the popcorn box and put one of the packets in the microwave and waited for it to pop. “I am glad to see them so happy.” He said, peaking around the corner into the living room to see them laughing about something Jeff had said. “It makes me wonder why they don’t just date each other.” He said, grinning.

“I would be lying if I didn’t wonder the same thing, but this way it is works out pretty well for us, I would say.” Nick said, moving to stand next to Kurt.

“Yeah, it really does.” Kurt agreed.

 


End file.
